A Helping Hand
by LunarShipper
Summary: Takes place after the events of page 996. Belkar is falling to his death, does he take this moment to reflect back on his life? Or maybe he just uses this to blame the party for his predicament. Oneshot [BELVAAR]


Well, _shit_.

Belkar was currently falling to his death after being tossed out of the window of the Godsmoot by his Dwarven teammate. He had told Roy and all the others that Durkon had changed, but had they listened to him?

No, nobody listens to him. Not _Belkar._

The clasp was still causing him immense pain, so he chucked the damn thing and sighed in relief as the pain stopped. Grumbling to himself about how he didn't enjoy the irony that even **Durkon** got to unleash the fury, he wrapped his arms around his abdomen over the bite wound. If someone had told him he would be killed by being thrown out of a building by the party cleric turned wolf, he would had taken it with a grain of salt. The halfling always figured he'd be killed in battle, probably a paladin's work. But hell, not _this._ He couldn't die right now, he had shit to do.

Not that he cared what happened to the party, no way, he would have killed them all anyways. He wasn't worried that Durkon might hurt them. But if he died nobody would be around to take good care of Mr. Scruffy. He settled for that excuse and prepared for his death.

He made impact.

After a second or two went by, he was fairly certain that he was still alive so the halfling opened his eyes. It was Vaarsuvius. That androgynous elf had actually caught him with that Bugsby hand spell! The elf flew him to the nearest landing and held him above the ground. Belkar hesitantly stumbled onto the snow despite how it felt on his bare feet, and looked up at the wizard. "Vaarsuvius?! …Man, I never thought I'd say this, but it's good to see you, Ears."

"May I inquire as to why you have chosen to depart the Godsmoot in a rather dramatic fashion through the window?" Vaarsuvius replied, looking curiously at the halfling.

"I told you guys Durkon was different, but you never listened! He just drained that Exarch guy of all his blood and attacked me. He changed into a wolf somehow and threw me out the window." Belkar explained rather heatedly, crossing his arms.

He was a bloody mess, not only did he have a decently sized bite taken out of his midsection, but remnants of the window lacerated his body from head to toe. Glass stuck out of his arms and his green attire was rapidly turning a sickening shade of red. The sheer amount of blood present made it difficult to see all of the glass, but the message that he was very badly hurt was easily conveyed. Vaarsuvius frowned. "You are injured."

"Yeah, thanks for noticing." He grunted sarcastically.

Vaarsuvius came closer to him and took his arm. Belkar gave the elf a curious look but made no move to stop the touch. The elf began to delicately pull shards of glass from the halfling's arms while he watched. Vaarsuvius picked as much of the bloody glass from their companion's arm as possible and, despite pausing every time Belkar flinched, worked relatively fast. As the elf patched him up Belkar decided it would be a good time to rub it in that he was right about Durkon.

"See? I told you he's not Durkon."

Vaarsuvius moved to his other arm now, working pieces of glass out from his sleeve and flesh. Their face revealed nothing and the elf remained as stoic as ever. Belkar frowned at this. He didn't know what to do, he wasn't used to V helping him out so much, especially when he was rubbing it in his or her face that he was right and they were wrong. He decided to be silent, he didn't really want Vaarsuvius to stop helping him; it was nice. He and the elf had started to get along better recently, and he didn't want to ruin that. So he watched the elf in silence, admiring their work.

Vaarsuvius turned Belkar's head gently and began removing the glass that had lodged itself in his hair and the back of his head. Belkar examined his arms as the wizard worked, and jumped a little when the elf's voice broke the lengthy silence.

"I... My apologies..."

"Huh?"

"I apologize for believing your suspicions regarding Durkon lacked merit. You were correct in distinguishing his true intent." Vaarsuvius was glad they had the foresight to say this while the halfling wasn't looking at them; it was difficult enough to swallow their pride enough to say that, they couldn't imagine saying that to his face.

Belkar smiled a little despite himself -he enjoyed hearing that he was right, and coming from V the apology meant a lot. "Hey, don't worry about it, Ears. I mean, you _did_ just save my life there, so, uh..." He lost himself, not really sure what to say.

But Vaarsuvius seemed to understand and let go of the halfling's head. He turned back to look at the elf. A rare sincere smile reached across the wizard's face. This made Belkar feel slightly better, but he wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Vaarsuvius hugged him.

It wasn't a big hug, just a quick little thing, but considering their history Belkar was -to say the least- a little surprised at the sudden occurrence. He hesitantly raised his arms and gave the elf a pat on the back. "I advise you to behave more carefully in the future, you diminutive cretin." Vaarsuvius warmly spoke in his ear, smiling to themselves as they hugged him tighter.

They pulled apart, and when they did Belkar was surprised to see concern on the elf's face. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of disappointment at ending their touch so suddenly. But he wasn't about to let on that he minded it. Grinning, Belkar joked back, "It's not the first time you saved me after I went through a window, you androgynous twit." He said, referring back to his fight with the paladin, Miko Miyazaki, in Azure city. He added the insult almost as an afterthought, his heart not in it. After a moment his face grew serious. "Hang on, how did you even know I was here?"

Vaarsuvius pointed to the Mechane, which was docked not too far away. "I was observing the mountain range from the ship's deck. My raven, Blackwing, grants +2 alertness when in my vicinity, which he was as he was residing in my room. I noticed your rather sudden exit from the window and assumed you had not simply learned how to fly and where, in fact, in danger."

"You have a raven?"

Vaarsuvius's face grew irritated, but the elf quickly sighed and calmed themself down. Belkar silently snickered at his teammate's annoyance. This abdominal movement made the bite wound on his stomach begin to hurt again. He winced and put his hand over his wound. Vaarsuvius noticed this and looked solemnly at the halfling. "We have innumerable opportunities to converse at a later time, it is imperative that we acquire assisted for the lacerations on your skin."

"I have no idea what you just said but if it means we're going to get me patched up I'm in." He spoke through gritted teeth.

Silently, Vaarsuvius reached out a small hand. Belkar looked at it -the hand was slender and pale. After a moment he looked up quizzically at V, who simply asked, "Are you planning on taking my hand in the near future? Or would you rather I leave you down here to bleed out?"

Belkar reached out with his least blood-soaked hand slowly took Vaarsuvius's small, fragile palm in his own and couldn't help but feel nauseous. He didn't understand why he suddenly felt so self-conscious around Vaarsuvius, but the way the elf had concern plastered on its face wasn't helping his sudden feelings of light-headedness and giddiness.

Vaarsuvius ascended, Belkar in hand, and with their face hidden from the halfling the elf bit their lip uneasily. What if they hadn't seen Belkar in time? He might have died and they never would have known. Then Vaarsuvius felt his hand grip theirs tighter for support. The elf's stomach clenched and their blood went cold. A small blush crept across their face and Vaarsuvius had to make a Will saving throw to continue flying. _Why do I care?_ Vaarsuvius asked themself, _it is nobody of significance, simply the halfling... A contemptuous, pathetic, minute sociopath... And yet..._

Vaarsuvius did not allow themself to continue this train of thought as they arrived at the Mechane's hull. The elf carefully set Belkar down on the wooden floor. The elf couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret upon letting go of the halfling's calloused hand. Belkar groaned with pain and clenched his abdomen, bringing the elf back to reality. Vaarsuvius had to concentrate to sound apathetic, "Remain here."

"No problem, Ears. I'm not going anywhere." Reluctantly, the elf left to find Elan. It didn't take long, the bard had been waiting for something to happen so he was waiting by the wheel talking to Haley.

The bard, rogue, and wizard almost immediately returned to their ranger. Elan quickly healed Belkar back to full HP while the halfling explained the situation to him and his redhead girlfriend. Vaarsuvius looked to the side, holding their hand beneath their robes. _Why are these emotions plaguing me? Belkar is at optimal health, so why does my stomach feel as if it is twisted?_

"Can we come and help?" Elan asked Belkar eagerly, he could smell a climax just around the corner and he didn't want to miss it.

"No, we can't, it's a private meeting for the representatives of the gods, remember?" Haley reminded her boyfriend.

They were all quiet, all thinking the same thing. It was Vaarsuvius who broke the silence.

"You are not serious."

Smiling, Elan retrieved Banjo the clown from his pocket.


End file.
